Southwest Airlines Essay

2899 words - 12 pages

Southwest Airlines Case Study: History and Analysis
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|Southwest Airlines Case Study |
|Thousands of people travel by air; Southwest Airlines provides low-fare air transportation service among 58 cities in the United|
|States. Although the industry suffered a major blow from the terrorist attack of September 11th, the company is still holding |
|strong; while other airline companies are in debt. The information was majority gathered and analyzed from ...view middle of the document...

It primarily provides short haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare |
|air transportation service among 58 cities (59 airports) in the United States. |
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|Here are some numbers that will give a brief idea how the company is operating: Net income: $241 million Total passengers |
|carried: 63 million Total RPMs: 45.4 billion Passenger load factor: 65.9 percent Total operating revenue: $5.5 billion The |
|airline industry has been hit hard by the terrorist attack of September 11th. There is a 13% insurance raise for the airlines |
|and the government is enforcing fees regarding security problems. The operation cost increases dramatically and there are less |
|people traveling by air. Most of the airliners are losing money expect a few. Southwest is one of those airlines which have |
|remained profitable. |
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|Organization of Southwest Airlines is described as an upside-down pyramid. The upper management is at the bottom and supports |
|the front line employees (~35000), who are the experts. This is Herb Kelleher's unorthodox leadership style, in which management|
|decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company is described to not have much |
|emphasis on structure; instead employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles. Kelleher, for |
|example, is said to know the names of virtually all his employees. |
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|Southwest Airlines is characterized as a C-corporation with duration distinguished as a normal perpetual existence. The |
|shareholders are not normally liable for debts of the corporation and they preserve an operation that is normally more |
|structured, requiring more meetings and (in some states) more reporting requirements. Management is very centralized through the|
|board of directors (elected by the shareholders) and the officers (elected by the directors). The corporation is taxable entity,|
|although the income which would normally be taxed at the corporate level can normally be paid out in salaries (and in other |
|deductible ways) so that there is in fact no tax at the corporate level. As far as transferability of interest, it is normally |
|fully transferable and raising capital is in the choice of public companies. |
| ...

1508 words - 7 pages
Running head: VALUES AND ETHICS: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
Values and Ethics: Southwest Airlines
University of Phoenix
Management 521
Abstract
Personal values and organizational values are important concerning decisions for any company. Those values and the decision-making style of one team member, based on the Williams Institute Ethics Awareness Inventory Assessment, correlates with the organizational style of Southwest Airlines, as

1600 words - 7 pages
1. Is there anything that you find particularly impressive about Southwest Airlines?
There are several things about Southwest Airlines that I find impressive. To begin with from the company’s beginning they have always taken advantage of profit opportunities in the airline industry. By thinking outside the box they saw profit opportunities by flying direct. They have also been able to not charge fees that other airlines do and are still able

1078 words - 5 pages
Organizational Behavior and Communication - Southwest Airlines
University of Phoenix
COM/530
Organizational Behavior and Communication - Southwest Airlines
Culture, Values, and Communication
Southwest Airlines (SWA) is a company of more than 37,000 employees (Southwest Airlines, 2011). It has been recognized as: #1 and #2 by Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America”; the only airline to win the Triple Crown (#1 in

729 words - 3 pages
Southwest in Baltimore case questions:
Issue at Hand: Baltimore is one of the eight mega stations for Southwest Airlines. The airline plans to expand operations there, rapidly. But the operational performance at Baltimore station is lagging behind the system-wide average of the airline. The challenge is to overcome this impediment so that the station can accommodate additional growth as planned.
1. How does Southwest airlines (SWA

1328 words - 6 pages
Southwest Airlines started from a simple concept. “Rollin King, a San Antonio entrepreneur who owned a small commuter air service, marched into Herb Kelleher’s law office with a plan to start a low-cost/low-fare airline that would shuttle passengers between San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston” (Thompson, Strickland and Gamble, 2010, pg C-401). “His business concept for the airline was simple: attract passengers by flying convenient schedules, get

1353 words - 6 pages
| 2012 |
| Southwest Airlines
Megan Wilson
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[The Future of Southwest airlines] |
Good Evening board members and staff, I am Megan Wilson, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of your company, Southwest Airlines. We have gathered here this evening to take a look at the current position of our company, how we are measuring up to our competition, and what I am proposing we do to continue our success within our future. First I will start

646 words - 3 pages
Southwest Airlines
Angela A. Jones
Communications for Accountants
Com/530
February 3, 2012
Jon Zimmerman
Southwest Airlines
Organizational Culture
An organizations’ culture develops from beliefs and values that are shared by a group or groups of people that influence the behavior of members within that organization. Every organization has a different culture setting that becomes enhanced by the level of

1424 words - 6 pages
the cost of their joist business. There after Nucor began construction on the company, own steel mill in Darlington, South Carolina close to an existing joist operation. Soon after, the Nucor became recognized as the Southwest Airlines of steel business and in the year 1985, Nucor become the seventh largest steel company in America with revenue of $758 million, six joist plants, and four state of the art steel mills that used electric arc

526 words - 3 pages
Since the 1960’s, Southwest Airlines has been intensively competing to provide exceptional customer service and a stable work environment, while offering low airlines fares. On March 15, 1967, Air Southwest Co. was incorporated and in 1971 the airline changed its name to what is known today as Southwest Airlines. Herb Kelleher and Rollin King entered a highly competitive industry in the state of Texas, thus prompting three other airlines to

904 words - 4 pages
Southwest Airlines
Ednora Bridges
BUS 520 Leadership and Organization Behavior
May 1, 2013
Dr. Lila Jordan
Southwest Airlines
Introduction
The intention of this paper is to analyze the effects of organizational culture on organizational development and change. To allow one to grasp the concept of organizational culture of Southwest Airlines

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Early in his career as CEO, Kelley stuck with the mold that was given to him. When he did make changes, the changes didn’t affect anyone who worked at Southwest. They were still the number one airline and still paid their employees the highest salary out of all the other airline companies. As the company's leader, Kelly said he strives to balance three important areas of focus for the company: low cost, customer service